The use of tensile fabric as a façade material is proving a highly effective solution with many benefits.
Fabric overcladding has an increasing relevance for architects. Not only can it be used on new builds, but has a big role to play in the refurbishment of existing properties.
Replacing a tired, old building is expensive. It can be far more cost effective to overclad with a dynamic new fabric façade that achieves architectural impact and is fast to install.
Fabric mesh was chosen to form an eye-catching wrap around the Ben Ainslie Racing HQ in Portsmouth.
Together with a lightweight first fix steel framing system, the fabric façade puts significantly less loads onto the building compared with some other rain screen systems.
At the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham the whole of the public facing façades were overclad with a combination of backlit giant 3D fabric pyramids and printing graphic panels to the centre, giving it a dramatic facelift and a new lease of life. This was done at a cost considerably less than replacing the existing façade.
There are not only aesthetic benefits but practical ones too. By overcladding a building, you can dramatically improve its environmental performance in terms of heat gain and energy saving, through increased insulation and elimination of glare.
This has been proved at the Ben Ainslie Racing HQ in Portsmouth, where the cladding provides additional insulation and protects the envelope behind from the cooling effect of the wind.
As part of an exciting £4.5 million transformation of Birmingham’s NEC, Base Structures has installed a stunning fabric façade to the exterior of Halls 1…
For flexibility, convinience and striking design
The beauty of a retractable awning system is in the sheer flexibility it offers, at the touch of a button. For restaurants, leisure, retail and events spaces, the challenge is to provide the best possible ambience for the ever demanding customer, while at the same time maximising the available footprint to allow for dependable, revenue generating activities and events.
A tensile retractable fabric roof allows businesses to make the most of their outdoor space, ensuring that customers can enjoy an alfresco experience when the weather allows and protection from rain, wind or even excessive sunshine when it’s needed.
With the desire for more outdoor living, the ability to cover external spaces with the press of a button opens up huge opportunities for the commercial and retail sectors.
For the larger covered areas we offer the En-Fold retractable roof from Uni Systems. This is a proven and robust fabric roof design that deploys down drive beams and can be configured in a wide variety of shapes to suit different footprints.
For smaller sites, or if a modular approach is required, the Italian designed Pratic range offers freestanding units with either a retractable fabric roof or a rotating louvre roof. Both systems can accommodate internal rainwater collection and additional features include integrated vertical blinds, glazed facades and LED lighting.
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Our temporary weatherproof screening solutions accelerate construction project programmes and keep sites safe.
If you are carrying out extensive construction site works or a refit, our Base Screens significantly improve your project programme, by removing the need for traditional cladding from the critical path.
These fully weatherproof engineered screening solutions are bespoke to your requirements and can fit to the existing structure you are working on.
With robust waterproofing and wind sheltering you can allow construction works to progress even in turbulent weather conditions and negate building programme delays.
The fabric weatherproof screening also provides privacy, covering areas you might want to protect from the general public – either to keep people away for their safety or maybe you are not yet ready to launch.
We recognise that when projects change quickly, flexible solutions are key. Covered scaffolding and traditional hoardings can be labour intensive and difficult to move. Temporary fabric screening is versatile and opens up more options.
Engineered fabric screening saves you time and therefore money. We’ve worked with contractors who swear by its performance, enabling them to fast-track construction works, fit outs and renovations and allows them to remove cladding from the critical path saving time and money.
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From the Olympic Games to pop up bars, we have created temporary structures that are designed to impress.
A successful temporary structure not only requires a good looking design, but also a sound structure that is practical to build and demount.
Fabric is ideal for events, as it is light to transport and fast to install. Add in the option for high definition printing and the whole structure can be easily branded.
When it comes to creating bespoke temporary fabric structures for events and performance stages, whether it’s at a huge festival such as Glastonbury or a small local event in the community, we have the experience you need.
Not only do we offer to design and manufacture the complete structure, we can supply a crew to tour it internationally. Our structure for Bach Concert Hall structure for Zaha Hadid Architect took us from Manchester to Abu Dhabi and back to Holland.
We can also offer pop up venues combining converted containers with integrated shading, provided by tensile sails.
Talk to us about your ideas!
We are skilled in helping you create engaging, interactive, decorative experiences and provide city dressing services for outdoor and public spaces.
The way people are using our municipal spaces is changing. With the advent of online shopping and changing recreational habits, we understand the need to diversify town centres, re-purpose buildings, retail and shopping districts and outdoor urban and public spaces into creative, experience-led environments and destinations, offering far more than the traditional shopping experience.
City dressing is a form of town regeneration that can dramatically change and improve urban spaces. From pop-up parks to destination led experiences, city dressing aims to increase time spent in our town centres and add value and viability where conventional, large high street stores are no longer relevant.
Making our cities and town centres attractive is good for the community, local morale and the success of small-scale businesses in the area. We understand the need to engage with the right people early on and are committed to working with you from the word go to add extra creativity to your city decoration, town regeneration or city dressing project.
Through increased use of parklets, town square regeneration and spaces developed for use by the community, we can help guide your project from conception to delivery. More than ever, in light of the recent pandemic, we are aware of the need to ensure recreation and municipal spaces work for the benefit of everyone.
City dressing and public space design addresses this by sensitively designing areas that can be used in a number of different ways. Whether by providing extra seating and rest areas, or providing charging points and bicycle racks to ensure people are moving away from their cars and travelling in a more sustainable way.
Pre designed canopies can be a great option for smaller budgets or tighter spaces, and we are able to design and install these, with our canopy experts guiding you through the process. We use modern design and construction methods. Our knowledge of tensile fabric systems also means that we can be trusted to choose the right materials and methods to ensure longevity and sturdiness.
We can also work with you to supply floor graphics, suspended artworks and outdoor seating areas, as well as all the necessary provisions for social distancing to allow people to feel welcomed back into shared municipal town and city spaces.
With our expertise and knowledge of working at height we are well placed to design, construct, supply and install any manner of street or city decoration. We have many years experience working safely in public spaces such as galleries, museums, shopping centres and sports grounds to name just a few, and of liaising with town planners, councils and facility management professionals to get the best out of any municipal space construction or renovation.
Our technical know-how will also help you to get the project off the ground. We are a safe pair of hands to work with your design team to realise their concept in a pragmatic and cost effective way.
Contact us today to discuss how we can help you get your town decoration or city dressing project off to a strong start.
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Designing animal enclosures is not a simple process. Here at Base Structures, we have years of experience and knowledge to deliver world class structures for both Zoological and Wildlife organizations.
Our zoo structures include animal enclosures, aviaries and a wide range of bespoke canopies.
We understand each zoo will know their animals better than anyone else. That’s why we work with you to create the right bespoke solution.
To design and build successful zoo enclosures and structures requires expert knowledge and a strong understanding of the rigorous safety requirements, animal behaviours and of the different types of mesh and fabrics to suit.
Products to fit your needs
It takes dedication and an ability to listen and understand exactly what the client needs. We work with our clients to maximise the animals living space and spectator viewing capability, whilst maintaining safety of the staff and public.
For our clients who run and manage zoos, animal welfare is their top priority. Most zoos exist as an opportunity not just for the public…
We design and build tensile fabric structures, helping architects around the globe create iconic architectural fabric buildings that define a space, from bespoke fabric canopies, translucent stadium roofs and curvaceous walkways to striking indoor fabric structures that make a statement.
For architects, tensile fabric provides the opportunity to add drama and curvature to their buildings in an easy and cost effective way. No other building material has the ability to span large distances, allow light through and take a double curved form.
We have been working with designers creating exciting bespoke fabric structures across all sectors whether outdoor or indoor we can adapt our approach to suit the required surroundings.
But it’s not all about appearance. Fabric structures can be used in all sorts of ways to provide protection from the elements. This applies not only to improving the outdoor experience for people but can also be used to enhance the environmental performance of the building.
And far from being an expensive option, tensile fabric is considerably cheaper than toughened and laminated glass, and can even be more cost effective than polycarbonate.
Fabric comes in a range of translucencies and colours as well as being available in a mesh form. Different types of technical fabric are available, each with its own merits as outlined in our tensile guide.
Base Structures can help you realise your bespoke tensile fabric structure design concept, using our knowledge of fabrics and structural know how.
The vast range of fabrics that can be used indoors, opens up exciting and creative possibilities for creating eye catching ceilings, wall claddings, or sculptural features for atriums, foyers, reception areas and large communal spaces.
The ability of fabric to span across wide areas with the minimum of structure, means that light weight linings can be used for walls and ceilings in large interior spaces. Add to that the ability to introduce curvature, back lighting and print and we can create some amazing effects.
Framed systems can also be suitable especially for retail applications where flexibility and speed of installation are essential.
From creating extraordinary interior architectural fabric structures, such as the Louis Vuitton flagship Beverly Hills Rodeo Drive store (pictured here), O2 Sponsors Lounge, and the Atrium blinds at the Healthy Living Centre, to producing more conventional installations, such as fabric canopies for point-of-sale or exhibition displays, our versatile skill-set means we can realise any interior installation. Innovation is at the heart of everything we do.
Our pre-designed ‘off the shelf’ fabric canopies make the most of your budget, without compromising on the quality and finish of your product choice. Perfect for outdoor seating cover, education spaces or entertainment stages and more.
Whether you are looking for an outdoor canopy for a school or planning an event space, our highly qualified fabric experts know these structures inside-out and will help you find out which canopy might be right for you project. You can also browse our pre-canopy ranges below
Contact us today to discuss your project in more detail, and let our experienced team guide you through the process.
We offer a range of canopy solutions for schools, colleges and universities to expand outdoor space and diversify learning environments. Our expert team will guide you through the process of picking one of our pre-designed canopies, below, or designing, manufacturing and installing a bespoke canopy solution.
Visit our canopies for schools page to find out more.
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Base Structures have been helping architects round the globe create iconic structures – from translucent stadium roofs to curvaceous walkways.
For architects, tensile fabric provides the opportunity to add drama and curvature to their buildings in an easy and cost effective way. No other building material has the ability to span large distances, allow light through and take a double curved form.
But it’s not all about appearance. Fabric structures can be used in all sorts of ways to provide protection from the elements. This applies not only to improving the outdoor experience for people but can also be used to enhance the environmental performance of the building.
And far from being an expensive option, tensile fabric is considerably cheaper than toughened and laminated glass, and can even be more cost effective than polycarbonate.
Fabric comes in a range of translucencies and colours as well as being available in a mesh form. Different types of technical fabric are available, each with its own merits as outlined in our tensile guide.
Base Structures can help you realise your design concept, using our knowledge of fabrics and structural know how.
Our in-house expertise has made us the go-to experts for the artistic and creative sector.
We work alongside creatives on art installation projects, from initial concept, to helping finalise designs and build solutions in order to execute their overall vision perfectly.
Whether it is a major sculptural work such as the Zaha Hadid Architects Maths Gallery at the Science Museum or coming up with a method for hanging 10,000 aluminium shapes at the O2 inn Greenwich, we have the expertise to come up with a solution.
Our tensile fabric solutions are creative by nature. We are a creative bunch who get excited to discover new ways to fulfil our client’s needs. We use this approach to find solutions to all manner of design and build projects or art installations.
Our specialism comes in executing ideas. We listen and make them ‘doable’ from a logistical and financial point of view. We nurture ideas working with artists and creatives from early stages.
We also love working with artists in helping them on a practical level with detailing and installing their works – even if there is no fabric involved.
in Bristol